


Why Keep The Brakes On

by annemari



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dancing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-21
Updated: 2013-01-21
Packaged: 2017-11-26 09:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/649280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annemari/pseuds/annemari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the prompt "Ray/Gerard - teaching Ray how to dance" at no_tags.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why Keep The Brakes On

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to my betas **jrho** and **cee_m**.  <333 Title from Cole Porter's Let's Misbehave.

Gerard cues up the music and takes a deep breath. He stretches out his arms, shakes himself a little, and turns to face the class.

"Hi, everyone," he says, grinning. "First, let's remind ourselves of what we learned last time."

There are fewer people here than last time, but Gerard's not too worried. The main group has settled after the first few weeks, and even when someone has to miss a class, Gerard knows they'll be back next time or after that, just for the joy of it.

He watches them move to the music, keeping his eyes out for any missteps that might need to be addressed later. He catches Ray Toro stumbling over Mrs. Smith's feet and has to bite his lip not to laugh. He knows it'd be unprofessional of him, but the way Ray blushes and mumbles apologies is strangely endearing.

Still, he steps up to them and asks, "Everything all right?"

Luckily Mrs. Smith is a good-natured old woman who just smiles and says, "Oh yes, Gerard, dear, we're fine."

"Yeah, sorry," Ray says, smiling as well. "Just—um, haven't warmed up yet."

Gerard giggles at that, he can't help it, and Ray grins back. "Just be careful," Gerard says. "And don't think too hard about the steps."

Ray nods, and Gerard moves on to survey the rest of his students. Ray's been going to Gerard's class for a month now, every Thursday. Apparently he needs to learn how to dance for his brother's wedding or something, and he heard about the class from Mikey.

It's not that Ray's rhythm is off or anything. It just seems like when he realizes he's leading, his brain sort of freaks out and leaves him fumbling his way through it. It _has_ only been four lessons, and Ray's noticeably gotten better since the first time, at least. Gerard's not too worried about getting him ready for a wedding that's still almost two months away.

Soon, they're halfway through the class and Gerard's sure most of them have gotten the basics of waltz. He's leaning against the wall opposite the mirrors, watching them all try to get through one song without any mistakes when he hears Mrs. Smith say, "I'm just gonna go rest a while, dear, until you figure this out." He has to clap his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud—this isn't the first time Mrs. Smith has left Ray for Gerard to deal with.

Gerard catches Ray's eye and raises his eyebrow. Ray grins sheepishly, and Gerard rolls his eyes, smiling, pushes away from the wall, and heads towards him.

"Look," he says and places his hands on Ray's shoulders. "At the end of the day, it's all about feeling the music."

"Uh," Ray says and puts his hands on Gerard's waist, tentative. "Okay?"

"Dude, I know you're in a band," Gerard says. "So you _know_ about music, and Mikey says you're a really good guitar player, so you should have that part down." He steps forward, and it takes a second for Ray to take a step back. "So what's the problem?"

Ray shakes his head and looks down. "Just because I can—" He takes one hand off Gerard's waist to wave it around. "—I don't know, feel the music, doesn't mean I can _dance_ to it."

"You're just overthinking it," Gerard says and turns them and takes some light steps back, pulling Ray with him. Ray's hand goes back to Gerard's waist, and he almost stumbles again when trying to follow. Gerard holds back a sigh. "You need to really _feel_ it. Everywhere."

Ray raises his eyebrows. "Everywhere?"

Gerard grins and nods. "Exactly." He quickly rearranges their hands, twirls Ray, and takes two steps back. This time Ray follows without pause. "See," Gerard says. "You can totally do it. You just need to not think so much."

"Right," Ray says, voice weirdly thin. "Yeah, okay."

"Seriously," Gerard says and lowers his arms. "I know it can be hard to turn your brain off, but sometimes that's what dancing's all about."

Ray nods, and Gerard steps back as the song ends. Ray looks a bit bewildered, but he gives Gerard a smile and a thumbs up.

Gerard grins and claps his hands together. "Okay, everyone, let's go again."

~

"Just—like this," Gerard says, adjusting the position of Ray's hands. "You have to be sure of yourself, okay. Not too hard a grip, but not too relaxed."

Ray nods, curls bouncing. "Right. Okay. Oh, hey, Mikey."

Gerard looks toward the door and holds back an undignified squeak at the sight of the two cups of coffee Mikey's carrying. Gerard fucking loves his brother. Mikey raises his eyebrows in greeting but walks right past Gerard, heading to his regular corner. Gerard huffs and turns back to Ray.

"Right, so," he says. "Now hold my waist, okay, and let's try the steps."

They get through them twice, Ray alternating between digging his fingers into Gerard's side and letting his grip go lax. Gerard figures it evens out in the end, and the main thing is that Ray didn't mess up the moves. He steps back and lets him get back to Mrs. Smith before heading towards Mikey.

He pauses at the edge of the room and watches Ray twirl Mrs. Smith with a bit more confidence than before, then runs his gaze over the rest. He nods, pleased, and turns to Mikey and holds his hands out. Mikey snorts and hands him the coffee, and Gerard inhales almost half of it in one go.

Mikey leans against the wall and sips his own coffee, looking out at the room. "You know," he says, "if I didn't know Ray, I'd think he was being this terrible on purpose."

Gerard frowns. "Cut him some slack, okay. He's not that bad."

Mikey rolls his eyes. "No, Gee. I mean he likes you."

Gerard almost chokes on his coffee. Mikey just laughs at him, the fucker.

"Shut the fuck up," Gerard says after he's stopped coughing.

"I'm serious," Mikey says. "It's pretty obvious."

Gerard snorts. "Yeah, right." He heads to the front of the room and wraps up class for the day, thanking everyone and giving his usual encouragement speech. He hugs some people, wishing them all a good week and vaguely considers Mikey's words. It's ridiculous, of course. Ray's a nice dude, with great hair and fucking fantastic arms, but he's not—there's no way he's into Gerard.

Gerard goes to the stereo to pack up his music and watches everyone pile out the door. Ray catches his eye and smiles wide and waves goodbye. Gerard raises his hand in response. He wonders whether Ray's always had such a great smile and he's just never noticed. He frowns and shakes his head. Fucking Mikey.

~

Gerard claps his hands together to get everyone's attention and signal the end of the class. He gets smiles in return, a cheer, a wave or two. He quirks his lips up and takes a small bow, before turning to gather his things. His heart's not really in it today.

"Hey," someone says, and Gerard startles before he sees it's just Ray. Gerard nods at him and continues packing up his CDs. "Uh, did you have fun on Saturday?" Ray asks.

Gerard pauses. "Oh. Oh, yeah, the show? Yeah, it was great. You were great." Mikey had dragged him out to see Ray and Frank's band at one of the clubs at Saturday. They _had_ been great, and Gerard had looked at Ray on the stage—sweaty and shredding like a fucking rock god, so comfortable and at ease, nothing like he was here in class—and had thought, _maybe_.

They'd gone over to talk to the band later, but Ray hadn't acted any differently. He'd smiled like always, chatted to them easily before he'd had to go pack up his stuff. Then again, Gerard supposed, there was no reason for him to act in any other way. He wasn't the one whose brain was now filled with all these _thoughts_ thanks to his nosy brother.

"Thanks," Ray says, and Gerard glances up to see he's grinning. "It was really good to see you."

Gerard gives him a weak smile in response and heads to the janitor's closet.

"You okay, Gerard?" Ray asks.

Gerard sighs and rubs his forehead. "Fine, just—busy. The morning kind of sucked, and the fucking rent went up on the studio, and I was out of coffee, and Mikey's _sick_ and—"

"Whoa, hey." Ray places a hand on his shoulder and gently nudges Gerard so he's facing him. "Breathe."

Gerard pulls a face and breathes out roughly. He knows he's essentially whining, but fuck, he's so fucking sick of this day.

Ray rubs his shoulder. "Is Mikey okay?"

Gerard nods. "Pretty sure it's the flu, but Alicia's looking after him. He's pretty good at being sick, at least. Doesn't complain half as much as me."

Ray laughs at that, and Gerard rolls his eyes. "Well, tell him I hope he gets better soon."

Gerard nods again and looks down. He's belatedly realizing he hasn't eaten anything since lunch. It's always Mikey who reminds him.

"Hey," Ray says again and pulls Gerard into a hug. Gerard tenses at first, surprised, but Ray's hand goes to the back of Gerard's head, fingers gentle in his hair, and Gerard relaxes and leans his forehead against Ray's shoulder.

Ray's warm and comfortable and really fucking nice. Gerard takes a deep breath and pulls back. "Thanks," he says.

Ray shakes his head. "Dude, you don't need to thank me. Just go home and get some rest, okay?"

Gerard nods and tries not to think about how he'll have to go to his small apartment and cook food for himself and go to bed alone. He's good at not thinking about it, usually. He doesn't feel alone when Mikey's around, not even when Alicia's there too and they're being all coupley. It's comforting, having them be there. But right now, he has to admit that he wants something more.

"Gerard?" Ray asks, looking concerned.

Gerard shakes out the tension from his shoulders and gives Ray a smile, hopefully a better one this time. "I'm fine," he says. "Just gonna finish cleaning up."

"Can I help?"

"No, you should go," Gerard says. "It's pretty late. I'm just gonna quickly go over this." He grabs the broom and starts sweeping the floor.

"If you're sure," Ray says.

Gerard waves his hand. "Go. I'll be fine." It's nice of Ray to offer, but then again, Ray's a nice dude.

Ray shrugs and nods, brushing a curl out of his face. "See you next week then." He's not smiling anymore. Gerard looks back down and focuses on sweeping. The door closes with a soft click, and Gerard squeezes his eyes shut for just a moment.

He finishes cleaning quickly, closes the studio behind him, and heads home to an empty apartment.

~

"You're so stupid," Mikey says. Gerard frowns at him. Mikey insisted on coming out to watch the class, even though he's not a hundred percent yet. "You should have told me sooner."

"Well, if I knew you were gonna call me stupid, I wouldn't have told you at all," Gerard gripes.

Mikey rolls his eyes and folds his arms, huddling down in his hoodie. "You should have asked him out," he says. "He _likes_ you."

Gerard elbows him in the side, as right at that moment Ray dances past them with Mrs. Smith. "Shut up," Gerard hisses. "And sit down, you look like you're about to fall over."

"I'm fine," Mikey mumbles, and Gerard sighs and takes hold of Mikey's arm and pushes him down into a chair.

"You shouldn't even be out."

"And you shouldn't be allowed to make decisions."

Gerard grits his teeth and goes to change the music, but Mikey grabs his hand and tugs.

"Gee, wait."

Gerard sighs again and steps closer. Mikey's looking up at him with wide, serious eyes. "Mikey, I just don't know..."

"Trust me, okay," Mikey says. "He likes you, I can tell. He cares about you. He's a good guy. It's okay, you know. To take a chance on him."

Gerard swallows hard. "I—Mikes, you know I fall for people pretty fast."

"I know," Mikey says. "It's okay. Talk to him, okay?" He reaches out again and squeezes Gerard's fingers, then lets go to wipe at his nose, and scrunches up his face. 

Gerard smiles fondly and leans down to kiss his forehead. "I'll try."

He walks to the stereo, relieved to see Alicia sneaking through the door. He gives her a little wave; she smiles and heads right toward Mikey. He switches the music to something faster and calls for a change of dance. He taps his foot to the music, observing the group. They're all doing really well, and he feels proud.

"Hey, so, we're gonna go," Alicia says, and Gerard starts and turns toward her. She's got her arm wrapped around Mikey's waist, and Mikey's leaning on her, looking tired but content.

"Drive safe," Gerard says and reaches out to brush her arm.

"Call me later," Mikey says.

Gerard raises his eyebrows. "Pretty sure you'll be asleep later."

Mikey sighs. "Whatever. Just—"

Gerard squeezes his shoulder. "Fine, fine. I'll—I'll see, okay."

"Come on, Mikey," Alicia says. "Gerard's a big boy, he can handle this." She gives him a soft look, and of course she knows. Gerard rolls his eyes, but it makes him feel sort of warm, too, to know he's got them on his side.

He waves them off and watches them leave, arms wrapped around each other, before turning back to his class and taking stock.

He sees Mrs. Smith sitting down to rest and heads over to partner with Ray. Then, of course, he realizes that he's about to dance with _Ray_ , and his stomach does a weird flop and his brain kind of freaks out for a second. But no, Gerard is a fucking _professional_. Who has danced with Ray before, many times. He lets out a breath and focuses.

Ray's hands immediately go to his waist. "No, no," Gerard says. "You lead."

"Uh," Ray says and his fingers twitch a little. Gerard ignores it.

"You were doing really well before," he says earnestly. "Come on. Here." He adjusts the position of their hands and nods at Ray.

He sees Ray take a deep breath before nodding back and pulling Gerard along. He leads them through the dance just fine, a lot better than last time. There's a confidence in his step, and his grip is strong, and if his step stumbles once he doesn't lose any time on it. Gerard just wishes he'd look him in the eye.

He tightens his grip on Ray's shoulder, and that does it. It makes Ray look up, and after a moment, he smiles. Gerard breathes out, relieved, and smiles back. "You're doing great," he says, and Ray grins wider, pulls him closer, and twirls them again.

Gerard thinks that they really should work on dipping for this because he's sure Ray would be excellent at it. The image makes his breath catch, and he has to blink himself out of it and focus on his moves. The music winds down and Gerard glances at the clock, surprised to see they're out of time.

"Okay," he says, pulling away from Ray and turning towards the rest of the class. "Thank you for a great lesson. See you all next week!"

He watches everyone gather up and start slowly moving towards the door and lets out a breath. When he turns to go pack up his own stuff, he realizes that Ray hasn't moved. He's standing near the stereo, hands in his pockets, smiling at Gerard.

"Good lesson," Ray says.

"Yeah!" Gerard says, eagerly grabbing onto that line of conversation. "Yeah, it really was. Um, you did great."

Ray shrugs. "Been practicing."

Gerard widens his eyes. "I—good. That's really great. I think you're totally ready for the wedding, actually." He wipes his hands on his jeans, then realizes he's just standing there like a fool, and makes himself walk over to the stereo as well.

"You picked really good music today," Ray says.

"Don't I always?" Gerard asks, cocking his hip, and Ray laughs. Gerard grins and starts packing up his CDs. "So, uh," he says when Ray doesn't speak up, "are you gonna keep coming to class?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Ray asks, sounding confused. Gerard shrugs, not looking up.

"Like I said, I think you're good to go for the wedding."

"Well, I like coming here," Ray says softly. "I'd really miss it."

Gerard pauses, hands clutching his bag, and bites the inside of his mouth. No matter what he told Mikey about going for it, about trying, he's scared. He glances up, though, and Ray's looking at him, face open and earnest. Gerard really likes him.

"I like you," he blurts out and immediately presses his hands to his face. Fuck. What the fuck?

There's a beat, and then Ray says, "You—really?"

Gerard nods and looks up and—oh. Ray's grinning, grinning so wide, and Gerard didn't think his smile could _get_ any bigger.

"I—I really like you, too," Ray says, and Gerard laughs helplessly.

"Okay," he says, and fuck, his face is burning up, but he doesn't even care. "That's really fucking great. I—" He flaps his hand; he doesn't know what to _do_. 

Ray steps forward, his hands settling on Gerard's waist, and kisses him. Gerard makes a happy noise and immediately buries his fingers in Ray's hair. Ray's strong and warm and a fucking excellent kisser, and Gerard doesn't ever want to let him go.

Ray finally breaks the kiss and pulls back a little, but he doesn't let go of Gerard. He licks his lips, and Gerard stares at his mouth, almost dazed. Fuck.

"Um, so," Ray says. "That was—I didn't expect that."

Gerard swallows. "You didn't?"

"No, no, I mean—I thought about asking you out, and then I thought about you saying no, and then it—but, uh. This is way better."

"You thought I'd say no?" Gerard asks. Ray shrugs and starts to step back, but Gerard grabs onto his shoulders. "Hey."

"Well, I didn't know," Ray says. "I've kind of been thinking about this for a while."

"You have?" Gerard asks happily. "I mean. Me too. I mean, it took me a while to realize it, and then Mikey tried to tell me that you liked me, but I didn't really believe him, but—"

Ray laughs. "Dude, it was Frank who told me to just go for it."

Gerard snorts, then shakes his head and steps closer. "So, you were gonna ask me out?"

"I was actually thinking about asking you to come with me to the wedding," Ray admits. "But then I thought that was a bit presumptuous, and it's still like a month away, so I was thinking...a date? Maybe dinner?"

"Or coffee?" Gerard asks, and Ray laughs again.

"Yeah, okay, coffee," he says. "Definitely coffee." He leans in and kisses Gerard again. This time one of his hands goes to Gerard's hair, fingers carding through it, his thumb stroking Gerard's cheek. Gerard really likes Ray's hands.

"I mean, I'm not saying no to dinner," Gerard says, pulling back to look at Ray. "And, uh, I'd love to come to your brother's wedding, I mean, if you still—"

Ray nods, smiling. "Yeah. I mean, I'd definitely prefer dancing with you than my cousin Sara."

Gerard grins. "Ah, see, now I know. You have an ulterior motive with all this."

Ray smiles and leans in again to press a soft kiss to Gerard's lips. "I really don't," he says.

Gerard blinks and looks down, grabs his bag and his keys. "So," he says. "Do you wanna get coffee now?"

Ray smiles and offers Gerard his hand. Gerard takes it gladly.


End file.
